[Politics] Who was the best British Prime Minister of the last 60 or so years?

Got something to say or just want fewer pesky ads? Join us... 😊

Who was the best British Prime Minister of the last 60 or so years?

  • Theresa May

    Votes: 1 0.4%
  • David Cameron

    Votes: 8 2.8%
  • Gordon Brown

    Votes: 3 1.1%
  • Tony Blair

    Votes: 72 25.6%
  • John Major

    Votes: 9 3.2%
  • Margaret Thatcher

    Votes: 142 50.5%
  • James Callaghan

    Votes: 3 1.1%
  • Harold Wilson

    Votes: 19 6.8%
  • Edward Heath

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Harold Wilson

    Votes: 15 5.3%
  • Alec Douglas-Home

    Votes: 2 0.7%
  • Harold Macmillan

    Votes: 6 2.1%
  • Anthony Eden

    Votes: 1 0.4%

  • Total voters
    281






The Clamp

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jan 11, 2016
26,182
West is BEST
Tony Blair was head and shoulders above the rest in my lifetime. He led the country through the last few years of the greatest decade since the 60's and implemented countless policies to improve the UK and the lives of those living here.
 


Eeyore

Colonel Hee-Haw of Queen's Park
NSC Patron
Apr 5, 2014
25,898
He did it on the sly, its common knowledge. If you haven't heard of it by now your not listening.

You're not really answering my question. Educate my ignorance.
 


KingKev

Well-known member
Jun 16, 2011
867
Hove (actually)
He took us to war on the back of a lie. End of.

UN weapons inspectors had said for years that Saddam had no WMD.

They were proved correct.

Blair and Bush went to war for regime change, which is illegal. They weren't even backed by the UN.

War criminals the pair of them.

Other than Wilson and Callaghan, maybe Brown, I don’t think any of that list would have done anything different re Iraq. Thatcher probably wouldn’t even have referred the decision to parliament....remember the Belgrano?
 


Weststander

Well-known member
Aug 25, 2011
69,243
Withdean area
Other than Wilson and Callaghan, maybe Brown, I don’t think any of that list would have done anything different re Iraq. Thatcher probably wouldn’t even have referred the decision to parliament....remember the Belgrano?

A silly comparison.

The Belgrano - in the midst of a war, name a single micro-scale tactical decision put to the House of Commons for a vote.
 




Mo Gosfield

Well-known member
Aug 11, 2010
6,362
Yesterday, I reviewed an application from a chap with a 1st from Durham. In a 3 paragraph covering letter, he had 22 spelling/grammatical mistakes. Durham, FFS.

Aside from anything else, how dumb (arrogant?) do you have to be to not use a spell-checker?

Precisely.
Apparently well educated but also semi-literate. Something wrong somewhere.
 


Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
56,087
Faversham
My biggest grouch is his 'university for all'. policy. Polytechnic colleges were great, and we need technical training in this country far more, than degrees in media studies. Kids were going to uni, getting into debt, and ending up doing office jobs.
We needed more apprenticeships, and on the job training paid for by firms, with kids earning as they learned.

Then of course the war.

Yes. And giving financial incentives to all 'religious' schools. The reason I left the party. Still the best though. And 'no plan B, but let's gamble everything anyway, ok I'm off' Cameron the worst.
 


Blue Valkyrie

Not seen such Bravery!
Sep 1, 2012
32,165
Valhalla
Yes. And giving financial incentives to all 'religious' schools. The reason I left the party. Still the best though. And 'no plan B, but let's gamble everything anyway, ok I'm off' Cameron the worst.
Yes, Cameron was indeed a disgrace for opting to spend his time shooting in the countryside near Chipping Norton with his mate Clarkson, rather than sort out the mess he made of the country.
 






Simster

"the man's an arse"
Jul 7, 2003
54,948
Surrey
I've just realised I voted Major but forgot it was him who was responsible for the train carnage over the past 2 decades. Sorry, take a point off his score.
 


Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
56,087
Faversham
You're not really answering my question. Educate my ignorance.

Did you really expect an answer? In English? You'd have better luck with Dick Whittington's cat. Or Mrs Slocombe's pussy. :lolol:
 




Mo Gosfield

Well-known member
Aug 11, 2010
6,362
[emoji1303] yeah, always winging about not being able to afford a home and being trapped in rented.. bloody snowflakes.

Not like the generation before them, with their jobs for life, affordable housing and retiring on full.. they had it tough. [emoji848]


Ah yes, I remember those halcyon days....... strikes and three day weeks and higher exam standards and lack of credit and 15% or more interest rates and rampant inflation and less stringent employment law, when individuals were sacked on the spot and when research and information couldn't be obtained at the touch of a button and when calculators weren't allowed in exams and when teachers and parents hit you and when you had to queue for hours to get into a football match.
 


wallyback

Well-known member
Jun 22, 2011
1,406
Brighton
More interesting i think would be a poll for the best prime ministers we never had:

Michael Heseltine
John Smith
Ken Clark
Neil Kinnock
Hugh Gaitskell
Enoch Powell
Tony Benn
 


Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
56,087
Faversham
He took us to war on the back of a lie. End of.

UN weapons inspectors had said for years that Saddam had no WMD.

They were proved correct.

Blair and Bush went to war for regime change, which is illegal. They weren't even backed by the UN.

War criminals the pair of them.

Nonsense. Complete and utter. Blix was never allowed to inspect properly by Saddam. This went on for 10 years in defiance of UN resolutions. Colin Powell outlined the situation eloquently. He persuaded me the intervention was correct (I was instinctively against it before that). There was no need later to 'sex up' the data later (that was a crass error) just as there would have been no beed to doctor the VAR footage of Murray's goal. Separatly had Blair not backed Bush it would have been the end of him (you can imagine the Sun and Mail headlines). Perpetual smearing of Blair by the left is one of the reasons labour will never get in again for the forseable future. Tories will read your post and 'love your work'. :nono:
 






Giraffe

VERY part time moderator
Helpful Moderator
NSC Patron
Aug 8, 2005
27,221
Margaret Thatcher by a long long way. The only one in my lifetime to make significant changes to this country for the better. If we had a second and a third I'd have big Dave C second for allowing us the right to vote and ditch the EU and also for bringing in gay marriage, and John Major for being decent, dealing with Ireland, and sticking one (or several) in Edwina.
 


Giraffe

VERY part time moderator
Helpful Moderator
NSC Patron
Aug 8, 2005
27,221
More interesting i think would be a poll for the best prime ministers we never had:

Michael Heseltine
John Smith
Ken Clark
Neil Kinnock
Hugh Gaitskell
Enoch Powell
Tony Benn

You really must add William Hague and Michael Portillo to that list. WIlliam Hague would have been a great Prime Minister right now. He was just around at the wrong time.
 






Goldstone1976

We Got Calde in!!
Helpful Moderator
NSC Patron
Apr 30, 2013
14,124
Herts
More interesting i think would be a poll for the best prime ministers we never had:

Michael Heseltine
John Smith
Ken Clark
Neil Kinnock
Hugh Gaitskell
Enoch Powell
Tony Benn

I had £50 at 75/1 on Heseltine being “the next Prime Minister” the day after he resigned over Westland. For this reason I couldn’t possibly vote Major (though I wouldn’t have anyway)...
 




Albion and Premier League latest from Sky Sports


Top